New Site Targets CEO Pay

April 5, 2001 - (PLANSPONSOR.com) - If you've got a
beef about CEO pay, the American Federation of Labor-Congress
of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) now offers a serious
site with a playful attitude, www.paywatch.org.

On the serious side, the site provides a forum to
research CEO pay for a variety of firms. Particular
attention is paid to the pay packages of:

Bank of America Chairman and CEO Hugh McColl was paid
over $96 despite the stock underperforming the S&P
index.

Conseco’s Gary Wendt received a $45 million signing
bonus, stock options worth close to $59 million and $18.8
million worth of restricted shares.

William Esrey of Sprint was awarded $3 million in
stock options despite a failed merger with WorldCom
Inc.

Pay Say

The site offers an email link to the board of each firm,
the company itself, to other firms that sit on the affected
company’s board, as well as mutual funds and pension funds
that the visitor may have an interest in.

Thanks to a 50% rise in stock options and a 22% increase
in salary and bonus, the average CEO made $20 million in
2000, compared to the average hourly worker’s increase of
3%.

Pay Grade

The site notes that over the past two decades, the
average pay of “regular” working people increased just 74%,
while CEO pay soared 1,884%. To illustrate the point, you
can input what your pay was in 1995, and the site will
project what you would now be earning if your pay advanced
at the same rate as CEOs over the past five years.

The site also offers an arcade of “games” with a serious
message, including:

‘GREED! The Executive PayWatch Board Game

Smash Corporate Greed! (like Whack-a-Mole)

Ping Pong or Pong Pong (“pong”)

Find the Health Insurance!

Shatter the Glass Ceiling

Picture Puzzle

Not to mention Word Games for the kids, or the young at
heart, including Word Find, Scramble, Crossword and a
coloring book.